What does a car company do by introducing a completely revised recent generation of vehicle, even though fleet sales of its predecessor remain high? For 21st century General Motors, you’re still producing Both versions. That’s what GM did when the tenth-generation Chevrolet Impala debuted as a 2014 model, continuing to develop Ninth generation Impala for fleet-only sales by 2016 and called it the Impala Confined. Here’s one of those not-so-rare but still captivating machines, recently found in a car cemetery in Colorado.
This photo from the 2016 Chevrolet Police Vehicle brochure shows the Impala Confined on the left and the regular Impala on the right. In my opinion, the steel rims on the Confined look better than the alloy rims on the police car.
The tenth-generation Impala moved from the aging W platform to the global Epsilon II platform, making it a sibling to the likes of the Opel Insignia and Saab 9-5. It was built for the 2016-2020 model years, making it the last Impala. It was quite a race for a model dates back to 1958.
This car is a good ancient W-body with chassis design dating back to 1988 Buick Regal, Pontiac Grand Prix and Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.
This meant the 2014-2016 Impala Confined was slightly shorter and A lot less roomy inside than the Epsilon-based Impala 2014-2020, but so what? Fleet mechanics had been working on W-bodies for many years and were familiar with them, and there was ample production capacity available.
A decade earlier, GM had taken a similar route with the Chevrolet Classic; The Malibu moved to the Epsilon platform in 2004 (making it a sibling of the Saab 9-3 and Saturn Aura), while the N-Body version remained in production for fleet-only sales until 2006.
The car’s engine is a 3.6-liter DOHC V6 High Feature with variable valve timing, generating an impressive 302 horsepower and 262 pound-feet. These cars were there quick thanks to a curb weight of just over 3,600 pounds.
The only transmission available was a six-speed automatic. In fact, the last model year for a manual transmission in a U.S.-produced Impala was 1973 (when three-speed column shift Coursebook was the basic equipment of six-cylinder cars).
During the Impala Confined’s heyday, I traveled and rented cars all over the country as an ace wise AND respected President of the Supreme Court Supreme Court’s 24 Hours of Lemons, and from 2006 to 2016, every Lemons employee preferred the ninth-generation Impala over all other rental options. Even if poorly maintained, these cars always ran quite well, and they were equipped with decent audio systems and plenty of engine power. In fact, we often held drag races between different rental cars on long straight race tracks; here I am officiating in a race between a rental Maxima and a rental Impala Confined at GingerMan Raceway in Michigan (the Confined won, as it almost always does).
When I rented these cars, I always appreciated the AUX input jack on the Impala Confined’s radio; this very useful feature was still quite arduous to find in rental cars in the mid-2010s.
The tenth-generation Impala was larger inside than the Confined and was quieter, but I was disappointed when the ninth-generation cars left the rental fleet.
I haven’t documented any first-generation Impalas in junkyards, but I have To have photographed worn examples secondthird, fourthfifth, sixth and seventh generations (including Bel Airs, Biscaynes, Caprices and other members of the Impala family).
Clinkscales Chevrolet in South Carolina had deals on the 9th Gen Impala for you!
It was a completely recent animal.
